SWAT team responds to Stanton gas station

STANTON – A man called police early Saturday morning to report a Chevron gas station robbery, then locked himself in the station's inside bathroom and claimed he had an assault weapon, Sheriff's authorities said.

Neither was true, sheriff's discovered, after a SWAT team busted into the bathroom after a three-hour standoff.

Officers received the robbery report around 3:30 a.m. and upon arriving at 10961 Beach Boulevard followed a suspicious car out of the station believed to have been connected to the call, investigators said.

Officers found a concealed handgun on a 23-year-old male in the vehicle and two other unarmed female passengers. The man was arrested.

Deputies went back to the Chevron after they were unable to connect the passengers to a robbery, Sheriff's Lt. Jim England said.

The gas station's owners told deputies that no robbery had occurred.

Officers then discovered that a 25-year-old man had locked himself inside the station's bathroom and claimed that he had an assault rifle, England said.

The man, who Sheriff's authorities believe made the call claiming that a robbery was in progress, refused to unlock the bathroom door.

The Orange County Sheriff's Department SWAT team was called around 4 a.m., investigators said.

Negotiators and officers stayed at the Chevron until 7 a.m., when SWAT officers entered the bathroom, England said.

Sheriff's found that the man did not have a weapon.

He was arrested on suspicion of a misdemeanor offence of reporting a false crime, a felony vandalism charge for causing more than $400 of damage to the bathroom, and resisting arrest.

The man has a history of medical issues and was taken to the hospital before booking, England said.

His identity will not be released until after he has been booked, England said.